Several studies have shown that General Practitioners GPs under-diagnose common mental disorders, and that training courses hardly improve this practice. The influence of GPs' self-perceived ability to recognize the severity of such disorders on these facts has not been investigated. The study presented in this paper explores GPs' perceived ability...
While there is interest in measuring the satisfaction of patients discharged from psychiatric hospitals, it might be important to determine whether surveys of psychiatric patients should employ generic or psychiatry-specific instruments. The aim of the study presented in this paper was to compare two psychiatric-specific and one generic questionnaires assessing...
A randomised trial of a multifaceted intervention for improving adherence to clinical practice guidelines for the pharmacological management of hypertension and hypercholesterolemia increased prescribing of thiazides, but detected no impact on the use of cardiovascular risk assessment tools or achievement of treatment targets. A predominantly quantitative process evaluation was carried...
A common finding in several studies is patients' dissatisfaction with complaint handling in health care. The reasons why are for the greater part unknown. The key to an answer may be found in a better understanding of patients' expectations. The authors have investigated patients' expectations of complaint handling in hospitals.
The authors used a validated inpatient satisfaction questionnaire to evaluate the health care received by patients admitted to several hospitals. This questionnaire was factored into distinct domains, creating a score for each to assist in the analysis. The authors evaluated possible predictors of patient satisfaction in relation to sociodemographic variables,...
Surveys of the population are commonly used to obtain information on health status. Increasingly, researchers are linking self-reported health status information to primary care consultation data. However, it is not known how participating in a health-related survey affects consultation behaviour. The objective of the study presented in this paper was...
General Practitioners GPs in Thailand play an important role in treating psychiatric disorders since there is a shortage of psychiatrists in the country. The authors' aim was to examine GP's perception of psychiatric problems, drug treatment and service problems encountered in primary care settings. The authors' distributed 1,193 postal questionnaires...
There has been little systematic research about the extent to which German physicians accept or reject the concept and practice of Clinical Practice Guidelines CPG and Evidence Based Medicine EBM. The aim of the study presented in this paper was to investigate German office-based physicians' perspective on CPGs and EBM...
Family doctors have been ascribed a role in monitoring patients and their informal caregivers. Little is known about the factors that might alert physicians to changing circumstances or needs of the caregivers. The study objective was to examine changes in family caregivers' quality of life following an Emergency Department ED...
Obesity is a main threat to public health in the Western world and is associated with diseases such as diabetes mellitus and coronary heart diseases. Up to now a minority of research studied the relation between obesity and the use of primary health care. In the Netherlands the General Practitioner...
Little is known about the procedures used by German dental and maxillofacial surgeons treating patients suffering from Chronic Orofacial Pain COP. This study aimed to evaluate the ambulatory management of COP. Using a standardized questionnaire this study collects data of dental and maxillofacial surgeons treating patients with COP. It concludes...
In a climate of concern over bioterrorism threats and emergent diseases, public health authorities are trialing more timely surveillance systems. The 2003 Rugby World Cup RWC provided an opportunity to test the viability of a near real-time syndromic surveillance system in metropolitan Sydney, Australia. This paper describes the development and...
Patients across North America are using Complementary and Alternative Medicine CAM with increasing frequency as part of their management of many different health conditions. The objective of this study was to develop a guide for academic health sciences centers that may wish to consider starting an integrative medicine program. Important...
Translational research requires taking basic science observations and developing them into clinically useful tests and therapeutics. This paper develops a process to develop molecular biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis by integrating Tissue Micro Array TMA technology and an internet-database tool, Profiler. TMA technology allows investigators to study hundreds of patient...
Physicians have long been advised to have a third party present during certain parts of a physical examination; however, little is known about the frequency of chaperone use for those specific intimate examinations regularly performed in primary care. This paper aims to determine the frequency of chaperone use among family...
Tight glucose control by intensive insulin therapy has become a key part of critical care and is an important field of study in acute coronary care. A balance has to be found between frequency of measurements and the risk of hypoglycemia. Current nurse-driven protocols are paper-based and, therefore, rely on...
The implementation of the 58th World Health Assembly resolution on e-health will pose a major challenge for the Member States of the World Health Organization WHO African Region due to lack of Information And Communications Technology ICT and mass Internet connectivity, compounded by a paucity of ICT-related knowledge and skills....
In Switzerland, General Practitioners GPs manage most of the patients on Methadone Maintenance Treatment MMT. In a cross-sectional postal survey of GPs who treat MMT patients and GPs who do not, this paper studies the obstacles and difficulties encountered in the out-patient management of drug-addicted patients. The paper concludes that...
Many health professionals lack the skills to find and appraise published research. This lack of skills and associated knowledge needs to be addressed, and practice habits need to change, for evidence-based practice to occur. The aim of this before and after study was to evaluate the effect of a multifaceted...
Research suggests there is a high prevalence of anxiety and depression amongst patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain, which can influence the effectiveness of rehabilitation programs. It is therefore important for clinicians involved in musculoskeletal rehabilitation programs to consider screening patients for elevated levels of anxiety and depression and to provide...
